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Freetown State Forest
Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
This state forest is one of Massachusetts' largest outside of the Berkshires. With land split between Fall River, Freetown, and Lakeville, the forest features over 25 mi of trails for hikers, equestrians, and dirt bikers, as well as an uninhabited Wampanoag reservation. Notable goings-on in the forest over the years have included satanic cult murders in the 1980s, escaped emus, and the collapse of its most prominent feature, Profile Rock.
The Freetown-Fall River State Forest is a publicly owned forest covering more than 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) in the city of Fall River and the towns of Freetown and Lakeville in the state of Massachusetts. The forest lies mostly in the center of the town of Freetown dividing Assonet, East Freetown, and Fall River's northernmost boundary. The forest land includes Profile Rock, a granite outcropping which local Native Americans believe to be the image of Chief Massasoit, and a 227-acre (92 ha) Pocasset reservation. The forest is owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and operated by the Department of Conservation and Recreation with headquarters in Assonet.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Owned and managed by Massachusetts' Trustees of Reservations, this secluded forest is located entirely in Fall River city limits. A varied landscape featuring conifer forests, mossy rock walls, and freshwater swamps is contained within a compact wooded area. As of January 2021, some paths, including the Cedar Swamp trail, are closed for repair.
Really? Why visit a cemetery? Well, Oak Grove is the largest public urban greenspace in Fall River. It is the final resting place of Lizzie Borden and her family (just follow the painted arrows from the main entrance on Prospect Street). Its obelisks and monuments are some of the city's finest architecture. It is well-manicured and filled with tortuous paths, designed in the style of Cambridge's famous Mount Auburn. And, it is a surprisingly great place to go for a walk.
This patriotic waterfront park houses a copy of Washington DC's Iwo Jima Memorial. In 2021, an 80% scale replica of DC's Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall will open- the only one of its kind in the world.
Owned by Little Theatre of Fall River.